Power steering apparatus.



POWER STEERING APPARATUS; APPLICAHON mw vMAY 1o, 1915.

entran sanftes einer ECE.

ROBERT WADDELL, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNOR TO WASHINGTON IRON WORKS COMPANY, F SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, A CORPORATION OF WASH- INGTON.

'rownn STEERING arrana'rus.,

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that 1, ROBERT WAnDnLL, a subject of theling ofEngland, residing at Seattle, in the county of rKing and State of lVashington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Power Steering Apparatus, of which the following is a speciication.

This invention relates to power actuated steering apparatus for-marine vessels; and its object is the improvement in apparatus of this character to `render the same more eiiicient in operation and wherein the rudder is automaticallyV held in adjusted positions. The invention consists in the novel construction, adaptation and combination of parts, as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view, shown somewhat diagrammatically, of a boat with my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section ofV the power and braking devices of the steering apparatus. y

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 5 designates a steam cylinder arranged in axial alinement with a liquidv containing cylinder 6 to which it is rigidly connected by the bars 7 and 8., constituting a frame which is secured, as by bolts 9, extending through flanged elements 10 of the respective cylinders, to the deck beams 11 of a vessel.

12 represents a peripherally grooved Sheave rotatably mounted in a Carrier 13 provided with guide boxes 14- for the bars 7 to afford longitudinal movements to the carrier.

The piston rods 15 and 16 for the pistons 151 and 161 of the steam and liquid cylinders are keyed or otherwise rigidly secured to said carrier. Passing about the sheave 12 is the tiller cable having leads 17 extending about guide sheaves 18 to the barrel of steering wheel 19. The other leads 171 of said cable are guided by sheaves 181 to and connected with the sector-shaped tiller 20 on the post of rudder 21.

By such devices the rudder may be influenced manually through the agency of the steering wheel 19 or by means of the power devices or the agency of the steam cylinder.

The steam passages 22 of the cylinder 5 Patented May 23, 1.216.

Application led May 10, 1915. Serial No. 27,106.

are controlled by a slide valve 23 of ordinary or suitable construction. The Valve stem 24: is connected by a coupling 25 to a controller rod 26, to cause them to be movable axially in unison but enable the rod to be rotated independently of the valve stem. Said rod passes through the valve chamber 27 of the liquid cylinder 6 and therebeyond is formed with a screw-thread 28 which engages the internal thread provided in the hub 29 of a bevel tooth gear 30. The latter is journaled and secured against endwise movement in a bracket 31 provided on the cylinder 6.

In mesh with the gear is a complementary gear 32 mounted upon a shaft 33 upon which is a grooved pulley 34 whereby rotary motion may be imparted to the shaft through the medium of an endless belt 35 passing about a pulley 36 provided on the axle of supplementary steering wheel 191. Passages 37 and 371 connect the ends of the liquid cylinder 6 with the ends of said valve chamber for the flow of liquid through such chamber from opposite sidesv of the piston 161 when axial movement is adoided thereto. In proximity to the mid-length of the valve chamber are two spaced seats 38 and 39 for valves 381 and 391 which are yieldingly held upon such seats by helical springs 4:0 and 401 supplemented by the pressure of the liquid obtaining at the ends of valve chamber and in the communicating ends of cylinder 6. These valves are slidably mounted on the rod 26 which is provided therebetween with la collar 41'. Said rod is also provided with a screwthread 42 of great pitch engaging a nut 43 fixedly secured to or made integral with the carrier 13, which, upon being reciprocated, `will serve to rotate the rod.

da represents a pipe connecting the chamber 27 between the valve seats with a tank 45 to accommodate the liquid displaced by the piston rod 16 when the piston 161 is moved in one direction.

rlhe operation of the invention is as follows: When the steersman, through the medium of the manually actuated part of l the mechanism, including the belt 35, shaft 33 and. gea-r 32, rotatesV gear 80, the screw thread within the latter serves to effect an endwise movement to the rod 26 and its collar 41 and also of the valve stem 24: whereby the valve 23 is influenced to uncover a port of one of the passages 22 to admit steam into an end of the cylinder 5. When, for eX ends ci' cylinder 6 is interrupted,

in which it is represented in Fig. 2, the steam will force 'the piston .151 toward the lett hand side of the referred to view accompanied by the sheave carrier 13 and the Abralte piston 161. The carrier being thus moved, willeffect the -swerving of the rudder through the instrumentality of the sheave 12 and the tiller lines, as will be understood. 'then moving piston 161 is forced through passage 37 into and through the chamber 27 and thence returned through passage 371to Athe other end of cylinder 6.

To accommodate such by-passage of the liquid the valve 381 has, through the agency of the collar 41, been dislodged Jfrom its seat 3S while the other valve 391 is pushed from its seat by the liquid pressure overcoming the power of the spring 401.

When .motion is imparted to the carrier 13, as above explained, the nut 43 connected thereto acting 'through the agency of screw 42, rotates the rod 26 whereby the same 1s screwed into the hub of gear 30 to restore the valve 23 to its closed position with respect to both et the cylinder passages 22 and likewise withdraws the collar 41 from valve 381 whereupon the spring 40 asserts its power and seats this valve. rIhis being accomplished, the flow of liquid between the resulting in the stopping of any further axial movement of the piston 161 andthe carriage 13 to accordingly hold the rudder in adjusted position.

Where the rudder is to beswung over through a considerable angle, the steersman would continue to turn the steering whe-el, which controls the rotation ot' the gear 30 to compensate for the rotation of the .rod 26 due to the travel of nut d3 upon screw 42. In such action, it is to be understood that simply a turning eiect is exercised by nut 43 upon the rod 26 while the aXial1movements thereof are attained by thek screw 28 being screwed into or out of the gear 30 which may be rotated to neutralize any axial travel of the rod.

`Among the advantages aorded by this invention is the coperative action of the steam and liquid controlling valves, to regulate 'the operations of the power and brake devices and impart steerin movements to the rudder, as well as holding the latter in adjusted ositions.

The til'er-line controlling sheave 12, upon being moved by the power devices, regulates the rudder and is'free vto rotate when it is desirable to steer .by the manually actuated wheel 19. y

What I claim as my invention, is-

1.In power steering apparatus, the combination with a controlling sheave, guide The liquid in advance of the 4`ends of the b :aisance pulleys, and the tiller lines passing about vsaid sheave and pulleys, of la carrier for saidsheave, a steam cylinder, a liquid cylinder, piston rods therefor which are connected to said carrier, a ley-pass between the ends of said liquid cylinder, normally closed valves for said by-pass, a 'valve for the passages of the steam cylinder,` means under the control of the steersman whereby the valves may be regulated to adord recip? rocatory movements to the carrier through power derived in said steam cylinder, and means influenced by the travel tot said vcarrier whereby the bypass valves are rendered operative to confine liquid in the cylinder therefor. whereby the travel of the carrier is arrested.

2. In apparatus .of theclass described, a steam cylinder, a liquid cylinder having bypass connections between its ends, a sheave carrier, pistons for the respective cylinders7 piston rods therefor which are rigidlyconnected to said carrier, valves `for regulating the flow of liquid through said icy-pass, a rod adapted for endwise movements tounseat either of said valves, means to effect suchy movements of the rod in either direction selectiiwaly,` said rod being provided with screw threads, andmeans operated by the movements of said carrier and through the instrumentality or' said screw-threads to` render said 'valves operable to shut od the flow of liquid through said by-pass whereby the travel of the carrier is interrupted;

3. In apparatus of the class combination with a steam cylinder, al liquid described, the i cylinder having a bypass connecting its ends, pistons for the respective cylinders, and connections between said pistons to cause them to move as a singlel element, of spaced valve seats provided in said by-pass,

spring closing valves for said seats and ar-Y ranged to be openable toward the adjacent pass, manually controlled means for opening either of said valves for the flow of liquid from one end of its cylinder to the other to render the power agent within the steam cylinder capable to impart movement to said pistons, and means. rendered operative by such produced piston movement to cause the first named means to become 'temporarily inoperative to retain the previously ailiected valve in open position.

4. In apparatus of the class described, a power cylinder l and a brake cylinder secured in axial alinement with each other, pistons for each of said cylinders'operative connections 'between said pistons' to cause them to move in unison, asheave, a carrier therefor secured to said piston connections, a by-pass chamber communicatin with the ends of said bra/ire cylinder an provided intermediate its length with two spaced valve seats, valves :for the respective seats,

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springs tending to yieldingly retain said valves against their seats, a valve for said power cylinder, a nut connected to said carrier, a manually rotatable nut secured against axial movements, a rod operatively connected with the last named valve and provided with means engageable with either of the first named valves to open the same, said rod being provided with screw-threads engaging with the respective nuts whereby the rotation of the manually rotated nut will effect axial movements to the rod to render the power agent operative to move said carrier, whereupon the nut associated with the latter will act to render the spring of the previously opened first-named valve capable of closing the same.

5. In apparatus of the class described, the combination with a steam cylinder and a liquid cylinder, pistons for said cylinders, a tiller-line sheave connected with both of said pistons to move therewith, valves for the respective cylinders, manually actuated means for opening valves of both cylinders to aiford movements to the pistons thereof for the travel of said sheave, and means actuated by such movements of the pistons whereby the valves are closed to arrest the travel of the sheave through the agency of the liquid Within said liquid cylinder.

6. In power steering apparatus, the combination with the steam cylinder and the liquid cylinder, the pistons for the respective cylinders, piston rods therefor the tillerlines, a sheave for said lines, a sheave carrier secured to said piston rods, of a valve for the passages of said steam cylinder, spring closing valves for passages connecting the opposite ends of the liquid cylinder, a rod operatively connected with the iirst named valves and adapted to engage selectively either of the last named valves, manually actuated means to effect the operative movements of said rod, and means provided on the carrier and engageable with said rod whereby the latter is influenced by the operative movements of the carrier to cause said rod to be capable of closing the steam valve and render it temporarily inoperative with respect to both of the spring-closing valves.

Signed at Seattle, Vashington, this 17th day of April, 1915.

' ROBERT WADDELL. Witness:

PIERRE BARNES. 

